 Douglas
County
was closely tied to that of Umpqua County in the early history. Umpqua
County, created in 1851, was located along the Umpqua River in southwestern
Oregon. Gold had been discovered in the Umpqua region resulting in
the rapid increase in settlement of the new county. The first meeting
of the Umpqua County Court was in Elkton in 1852; later the county
government was moved to Green Valley and Yoncalla.
Because
the population of Umpqua County had rapidly increased and met the
population requirements for a new county, a new county was created
on January 7, 1852, out of that portion of Umpqua County lying east
of the Coast Range. It was named Douglas County to honor U. S. Senator
Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois who was a congressional advocate
for Oregon statehood.
Meanwhile,
in Umpqua County the gold mining boom played out, and the population
of Umpqua County decreased until finally in 1862 it was absorbed
into Douglas County and ceased to exist. In 1856 the Camas Valley
was annexed to Douglas County from Coos County and further boundary
adjustments were made with Jackson and Lane Counties in 1915. Today,
Douglas County covers 5,071 square miles and is bounded by Curry,
Jackson, and Josephine Counties to the south; Klamath County to
the east; Lane County to the north; and Coos County and the Pacific
Ocean to the west.
In
the county seat of Roseburg, courthouses were built in 1855, 1870,
1891, and 1929. The 1929 courthouse is still in use. Umpqua County
never had a courthouse.
The
first meeting of the Douglas County Commission was held at Winchester
on April 4, 1853, with the three elected commissioners and sheriff
in attendance. Winchester remained the county seat until 1854 when
Deer Creek (renamed Roseburg in 1855) was made the seat by popular
election. Douglas County had a county court form of government until
1965 when a board of commissioners was formed. Current elected officials
include three commissioners, assessor, clerk, district attorney,
sheriff, surveyor, and treasurer.
The
county's population has increased steadily from 3,203 in 1860 to
100,399 in 2000, a rise of 6.08% over 1990.
The
entire watershed of the Umpqua River lies within the boundaries
of Douglas County. The heavily timbered county contains nearly 1.8
million acres of commercial forest lands and one of the oldest stands
of old growth timber in the world. Approximately 25-30% of the labor
force is employed in the forest products industry. Agriculture,
mainly field crops, orchards, and livestock, is also important to
the economy of the county. Nickel has been refined at Riddle since
1954. There is a significant federal presence in the region; the
U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management administer more
than 50% of the county's land.
The
Umpqua Indians of the Umpqua Valley belonged to the Chinook tribe.
Following the Rogue River Indian War in 1856, all remaining natives
were moved by the government to the Siletz and Grande Ronde Indian
Reservations.
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 Douglas
County takes in more money from "Oregon and California"
lands than any other Oregon county. The payments are
a vestige of an 1866 federal land grant to subsidize
the construction of a railroad from Portland to the
California border. The grant consisted of 20 square-mile
sections for every mile of completed railroad. The line
was completed in 1887.
Trouble
began in 1894 when the railroad began to illegally sell
the heavily forested land for its timber value. Earlier
federal legislation required that only "actual
settlers" could purchase the land from the railroad
company. Finally, Congress responded by taking back
most of the land and earmarking much of the timber sale
revenues for counties along the route. While environmental
issues have greatly reduced the bonanza since a peak
in the 1980s, Douglas County still relies on the money
to fund programs.
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